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EW YORK (AP) - A teenage suspect who secretly recorded his interrogation on an MP3 player has landed a veteran detective in the middle of perjury charges, authorities said Thursday. Unaware of the recording, Detective Christopher Perino testified in April that the suspect "wasn't questioned" about a shooting in the Bronx, a criminal complaint said. But then the defense confronted the detective with a transcript it said proved he had spent more than an hour unsuccessfully trying to persuade Erik Crespo to confess—at times with vulgar tactics.

Once the transcript was revealed in court, prosecutors asked for a recess, defense attorney Mark DeMarco said. The detective was pulled from the witness stand and advised to get a lawyer.

Perino, 42, was arraigned Thursday on 12 counts of first-degree perjury and faces as many as seven years on each count, prosecutors said. He was released on $15,000 bail.

His attorney did not immediately respond to a telephone message seeking comment Thursday. A New York Police Department spokesman declined to comment.
The allegations "put the safety of all law-abiding citizens at risk because they undermine the integrity and foundation of the entire criminal justice system," District Attorney Robert Johnson said in a statement.

Perino had arrested Crespo on New Year's Eve 2005 while investigating the shooting of a man in an elevator. While in an interrogation room at a station house, Crespo, then 17, stealthily pressed the record button on the MP3 player, a Christmas gift, DeMarco said.

After Crespo was charged with attempted murder, his family surprised DeMarco by playing him the recording.

"I couldn't believe my ears," said the lawyer, who decided to keep the recording under wraps until he cross-examined Perino at the trial.

Prosecutors then offered Crespo, who had faced as many as 25 years if convicted, seven years if he pleaded guilty to a weapons charge. He accepted.

imported post

A teenage suspect who secretly recorded his interrogation on an MP3 player has landed a veteran detective in the middle of perjury charges, authorities said Thursday. Unaware of the recording, Detective Christopher Perino testified in April that the suspect "wasn't questioned" about a shooting in the Bronx, a criminal complaint said. But then the defense confronted the detective with a transcript it said proved he had spent more than an hour unsuccessfully trying to persuade Erik Crespo to confess - at times with vulgar tactics.

Once the transcript was revealed in court, prosecutors asked for a recess, defense attorney Mark DeMarco said. The detective was pulled from the witness stand and advised to get a lawyer.

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TPD Officers Olsen and Smalls would have had some serious explaining to do to their sergeant if I had had the forethought to record the stop. Olsen lied in his written report of the interaction, and sadly forced Smalls to lie to cover it up. Olsen told me he would seize my firearm if he ever heard of me carrying it openly on the waterfront. He told me I could not carry my pistol on the Ruston Way waterfront, made me conceal (coercion) and forbid me to reload it after he’d cleared it. He also said he would stand in front of any judge and testify that my carry was causing alarm. He later denied, in writing, saying these things.

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The allegations "put the safety of all law-abiding citizens at risk because they undermine the integrity and foundation of the entire criminal justice system," District Attorney Robert Johnson said in a statement.

Good catch!

Either we are equal or we are not. Good people ought to be armed where they will, with wits and guns and the truth. LAB/NRA/GOP *******

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You can bet that NYC is now going to find a way to make these recording devices illegal. They can't continue to have citizens expose the advanced tactics used by the law enforcement community to effectively fight crime. To allow it to continue would be an outrage and compromises the safety of the public.

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Now every investigation that this detective has been involved in will be questioned. I hope it frees some innocent people, and he goes to jail. I'm not holding my breath waiting for him to go up the river. They'll claim that losing his career as a LEO is punishment enough, just like the drunk DEA agent who shot a guy here several years ago.

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I woke at 0230 to p. and saw 17P Holmes out my BR window. Dozed until 0330 and decided to make the world a better place by stirrin' the 'pudding' - the only thing that can be done, sometimes the pudding is made better and sometimes it slops out of the pot.